[geeks] Barbeque Geekery

[Sheldon T. Hall]

Francois Dion a dit ...

> Shel!, do you need for me to get you some good addresses? Are you in
> Paris or what? You want to get some whole bean coffee?

We're down South, in Uzes, not too far from Nimes (30 min), Avignon (45
min), and Montpellier (1:30).  We get up to Paris very occasionally, but we
visit Lyon every month.

> The French are really particular about their coffee, just as you guys
> all seem to be.

Yeah, but the French take on it is a bit different from the Italian.  And
maybe it's a regional thing, too.  Some of the cafes here pour stuff that's
almost OK, but none have the thich, bittersweet "creamy coffee goo" 

I'll admit I haven't spent much time in Italian supermarkets and grocery
stores, so I don't know what Guiseppe Six-pack can buy, but in the stores
here the only choices are preground, mass-market coffees.  No whole beans,
unless you want a 5-kilo sack.  Nothing locally roasted.  Nothing labelled
as to origin save for things like "100% de Colobie," or something like that.
You can get a can of carbonized robusta and chiccory, though, if you want to
relive the 40s.

Now, I am in a town of 9,000 inhabitants, but we do have 2 Hypermarches
(Carrefour and Intermarche) and 3 Supermarches (Utile, Casino, and Shopi),
so it's not like we have no stores.  However, they are all chain stores,
nothing local.

Back in the US, on our little island of 20,000 inhabitants, we had only 2
supermarkets (Safeway and a local one), and the locally-owned one had all
the cards when it came to coffee.  They not only had the usual national
suspects, but coffee from three roasteries in Seattle, and from two on the
island itself.

> They import from the typical places, but also from
> Haiti, Fiji, Madagascar (un p'tit Kouillou? at least twice the cafeine
> of your typical coffee), Martinique et Guadeloupe (Bonifieur). Yauco
> de Puerto Rico tambien, es bueno. I've found it around DC, cant find
> it in North Carolina :( At the other end of the spectrum if you prefer
> a bit weaker, there's the Yirgacheffe.

We're beginning to find on-line sources for some more interesting foods;
maybe I'll find a French equivalent of Sweet Marias (for green coffee) or
one of the small roasteries that do mail order.

> I really want to find some Kouillou. They had it in Montreal. Of
> course, St-Denis street was great for that, you could just walk in a
> "brulerie" and get coffee just freshly roasted at about any time of
> the day.

Tell me about it ... I used to live in Seattle.

On the Kouillu subject, though, I can find a bulk suplier/importer in
France, but the stuff seems to be unknown in the States.  You might hit
http://www.sweetmarias.com/ and ask Tom if he knows the stuff.

-Shel